THESIS 10406This thesis analyses how the American novelist Walker Percy (1916-1990) anatomizes belief in his six novels and one work of non-fiction satire, Lost in the Cosmos (1983). In critical studies of Percy?s fiction, no study has thoroughly addressed the issue of belief within Percy?s work, specifically the way that Percy constructs meaningful and non-meaningful belief in his novels, whether religious in the traditional sense- belief for the orthodox Christian- or a looser sense- belief for an atheist or Stoic.

This article presents the core concept of 'visible-ness' that emerged from an ethnographic study, which explored the nature of communication, for children (for ease of reading children refers to children and young people), admitted to a children's hospital in the Republic of Ireland.
BACKGROUND:
The importance of engaging with both child and family has been espoused as fundamental in promoting 'family'-centred care. To date, studies have almost exclusively explored parents' and nurses' perspectives of the nature of parent participation and nurse-parent interactions and relationships. Although there is evidence of an emerging body of knowledge, which explores children's perspectives of their information, and communication needs, little is known empirically about the communication process between children and members of the health care team in inpatient hospital settings.
DESIGN:
The principles of ethnography underpinned the study design.
METH...

Nanoscale devices that are sensitive to measurement history enable memory applications, and memristors are currently under intense investigation for robustness and functionality. Here we de-scribe the fabrication and performance of a memristor-like device that is comprised of a single TiO2 nan-owire in contact with Au electrodes, demonstrating both high sensitivity to electrical stimuli and high levels of control. Through an electroforming process, a population of charged dopants is created at the interface between the wire and electrode that can be manipulated to demonstrate a range of device and memristor characteristics. In contrast to conventional two-terminal memristors, our device is essentially a diode that exhibits memristance in the forward bias direction. The device is easily reset to the off state by a single voltage pulse and can be incremented to provide a range of controllable conductance states in the forward direction. Electrochemical modification of the Schottky bar...

The Antarctic has frequently been a location for Gothic narratives. Ever since Captain Cook declared that it was better for mankind not to know anything about the mysterious land which lay on the other side of the frozen Southern Ocean, the human imagination has been drawn to the far south. Samuel Taylor Coleridge set the key episode of his ?Rime of the Ancient Mariner? (1798) at the South Pole, but it was some of the earliest works of Edgar Allan Poe which established Antarctica as a Gothic setting. His short story ?MS. Found in a Bottle? (1833) and novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) were the first true Antarctic Gothic fictions. In this thesis, I argue that these works became the foundational texts of a subgenre which have depicted this geographical space as a realm of terror and wonder. Along with Poe, such authors as Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft, John W. Campbell, and a number of lesser known storytellers have used the Antarctic as a field of whiteness u...

Bishop Berkeley had the reputation in his own day of
having written a book?The Principles of Human Knowledge?
which no one could understand. 'His labours', said a contemporary
philosopher of some eminence, 'are of little use on
account of their abstruseness.' Yet Berkeley believed that by
means of that book he had 'done away with the chief causes
of error and difficulty in the sciences.'
I am proposing now to attempt some examination of that
remarkable book, Credit Power and Democracy, written,
together with some other works of a kindred nature, by Major
C. H. Douglas.

This paper presents a review of the current state of macroeconomic theory concerning the impact of Government spending on economic
activity. The models presented reflect the current approach in theoretical analysis of economic activity, incorporating such features as: A general, rather than partial, equilibrium approach to model building;
Agents' behaviour is modelled as the result of the solution of an optimisation problem - maximising utility or profits. This contrasts with earlier approaches in which, in many cases, the postulated behaviour of agents was not derived as a solution to an optimisation problem (e.g., the Keynesian consumption function); The models are set in an intertemporal framework rather than the static approach previously employed; Expectations are assumed to be rational instead of the assumption of static or adaptive expectations previously employed; The impact of market clearing or non-clearing is explicitly accounted for.

In his comment on my 1997 paper John FitzGerald (JFG) makes the following points: (i) While the ESRI study on EMU, henceforth ESRI (1996), found no evidence of my hypothesis of downward nominal wage rigidity, this could not be ruled out and so my paper raises questions worthy of discussion; (ii) in my calibration exercises I used long-run labour-demand elasticities rather than the short-run elasticities that JFG argues are more appropriate; (iii) I apply too high a weight to German prices in the determination of the Irish CPI, while ESRI (1996) suggests that UK prices (in Irish pounds) are essentially all that matter; and (iv) I ignore the ESRI use of the Gerlach methodology to evaluate the cost of giving up the exchange rate option. I will deal with each of these points in turn.

There is little, if anything, I can add to the fine paper by Tim Callan and Brian Nolan in the way of statistical data or direct comment. Their treatment of the topic has been comprehensive, impartial and professional. The main message to emerge from their paper, for me, was that the fiscal retrenchment and economic growth of the period did not have any particularly adverse distributional consequences ? at a macroeconomic level at least. This is in marked contrast to the experience of the UK in the first half of the 1980s, where the income share of the bottom 50 per cent fell quite considerably over the period. The main reason for this is that fiscal adjustment in Ireland was accompanied by growth in incomes and employment, thereby avoiding many of the adverse distributional consequences experienced in the UK.

Purpose:
To examine the changes in multidisciplinary medical team activity and practices, with respect to the amount of patient cases, the information needs and technology used, with up to 10 multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in a large teaching hospital over a 10-year period.
Methods:
An investigation of MDT meeting activity was undertaken in November 2005 and repeated in November 2012 for the MDTs at a large university teaching hospital. Analysis of data from 8 MDTs was informed through long-term ethnographical study, and supplemented with 38 semi-structured interviews and a survey from 182 staff members of MDTs.
Results:
Work rhythms change over time as a function of the volume of work and technology changes, such as the use of a picture archive and communication system (PACS), videoconferencing and an electronic patient record (EPR). Maintaining cohesive teamwork,
system dependability, and patient safety in the context of rapid change is challenging.
Conclusions:
Benefits of MDT wo...

Networks comprised of randomly oriented overlapping nanowires offer the possibility of simple fabrication on a variety of substrates, in contrast with the precise placement required for devices with single or aligned nanowires. Metal nanowires typically have a coating of surfactant or oxide that prevents aggregation, but also prevents electrical connection. Prohibitively high voltages can be required to electrically activate nanowire networks, and even after activation many nanowire junctions remain non-conducting. Non-electrical activation methods can enhance conductivity but destroy the memristive behavior of the junctions that comprise the network. We show through both simulation and experiment that electrical stimulation, microstructured electrode geometry, and feature scaling can all be used to manipulate the connectivity and thus, electrical conductivity of networks of silver nanowires with a non-conducting polymer coating. More generally, these results describe a strategy to ...

The Irish experience with fiscal adjustment is interesting, not just for a domestic audience but also for an international one. If one confines the comparison to the OECD countries, the Irish experience can be seen as part of a general trend towards fiscal consolidation, in which it stands out in one major respect. Whether one focuses on 1979 (a cyclical peak in OECD activity) or 1982-83 (the trough of the cycle) as a starting point, Ireland had by 1990 experienced the largest fiscal adjustment of all OECD countries in terms of the size of the swing in the general government budget deficit/GDP ratio. The only other countries to approach it are Japan, Denmark and Sweden.

A characteristic of many small countries is their propensity to compare domestic performance with that of the outside world. The Irish are much given to this practice. Different comparators are taken depending on the nature of the problem and the mood and ideological preference of the writer. In discussions of Ireland's economic performance, a wide variety of countries has been chosen as critical benchmarks. Examples to emulate have included, as fashion dictates, Denmark (agriculture; co-operatives; indigenous
industry), Sweden (full employment policies; incomes policies), Finland (industrial growth on the periphery), France (economic planning), Holland (an exemplar on everything), Germany (labour training), Austria (social consensus) and even the USA (success in generating jobs). The UK is a constant standard of comparison, sometimes challenging (privatisation, post-Thatcher industrial relations) and sometimes reassuring and exculpatory (low growth relative to EC).

The current renaissance in main group chemistry has been fuelled by the remarkable array of fundamentally interesting yet synthetically applicable low oxidation state p-block compounds that have appeared over the last decade. Their syntheses generally require the ready availability of low oxidation state element halide precursors. In the case of gallium this is provided by the simple to prepare reagent, ?GaI?, which since it was first reported in 1990, has been utilised in areas as varied as organic synthesis and gallium cluster construction. This article tracks the history of this extraordinary material and highlights its synthetic diversity; hopefully allowing the reader to envisage its application to aspects of their own research fields.

This paper explores the alleged role of a conception of human nature for Kant?s
justification of the duty to leave the state of
nature and the related right to coerce others
to enter the civil condition in the
Doctrine of Right
(1797). I criticise the interpretation
put forward by Byrd and Hruschka, according to which Kant?s postulate of public right
is a preventive measure based o
n a ?presumption of badness? of human beings.
Although this reading seems to be supported by ?42 of the
Doctrine of Right
, I shall
argue that the paragraph neither offers a justification of why we have a duty to leave the
state of nature, nor explains why
individuals are allowed to coerce others to do so. I
offer an alternative interpretation of ?42 by focusing on the difference between
formal
and
material
violations of right and argue that the rationale behind the
postulate
of
public right is the idea that
remain
ing in the ...

THESIS 9706This research is a case study which sought to explore and map the religious identity of a group of thirty primary school student teachers in their third and fourth year of teacher education. The questions arose because of my personal experience of primary school teachers over the last twenty years in schools under religious patronage, where there is a requirement to teach religious education. The study was framed in the social, political and economic landscape of Ireland from 1990 ? 2010, which broadly encompasses the life-span of these students. The country witnessed great socio-economic change: the rise of a vibrant economy and industrial stability; the arrival of immigrants from all over the world; the building boom and the rise of a consumerism not seen in Ireland before. There was a changing political landscape: the election of two female Presidents of Ireland; political stability; and the success of the Northern Ireland Agreement. As well as this secular change...

Objective: To ascertain if similarities or differences exist in perceptions of quality of life (QoL) amongst nursing
10 home (NH) residents with different levels of cognitive impairment (CI).
Method: Face-to-face interviews using a simple 15-item semi-structured interview schedule with 61 older people
with a CI (13 mild, 20 moderate and 28 severe) living in three Dublin area based NHs.
Results: Four key themes of QoL with accompanying sub-themes were identified: (1) social contact, (2)
attachment, (3) pleasurable activities and (4) affect. Whilst some similarities existed between the three groups,
15 results showed emerging differences, particularly between those with a mild and severe CI. In particular, the
narratives of those with a severe CI reflected an absence of social contact, a quest for human contact and a lack of
awareness of structured pleasurable activities. A large majority also reported feelings of loneliness, isolation and a
search for home.
Conclusions: Findings supp...

This qualitative research study explored the experience of mental health professionals working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Ireland. Mental health services, including CAMHS, have undergone significant development over the past decade. This development has largely occurred within the context of the publication of the national policy document A Vision for Change (Department of Health and Children, 2006) which set out a framework for mental health services across the lifespan. While there has been a considerable focus on the number of referrals and waiting-lists in CAMHS, the experience of the professionals working within the services has been neglected. Little is known about how professionals make sense of their work in CAMHS and the nature of their experiences within these services.
Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six multidisciplinary professionals working in CAMHS and the data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analy...